Milton gets a new city logo

Highlights horses, quality of life

MILTON, Ga. – There won’t be a lot of fanfare, but Milton has a new look.

To be more precise, a new logo, which was approved by the mayor and council at their Jan. 7 meeting. The logo still features predominantly a horse, like the previous one, but has updated the design.

The logo was created in-house by staff, at no expense to taxpayers.

City Communications Manager Jason Wright designed the new logo.

“We had been looking at [the logo] since October,” Wright said. “It was created using data pulled from the city’s strategic plan.”

The logo features the shadow of a horse running, with the words “Home of ‘best quality of life in Georgia.’” Below that is the city name and in the corner, “Established 2006.”

The logo the city had been using came from the private government company, CH2M-Hill, which ran Milton for the first years of its existence. When the company left Milton, the logo was passed along.

“None of the elected officials or [current] city staffers were involved in the original logo,” said Mayor Joe Lockwood. “This one comes from input and we get ownership of it.

“I think it looks good,” he said.

Wright said it would cost the city between $60,000 and $100,000 to hire an outside marketing firm to do the same work, which would include design and holding numerous public meetings with residents to find out what they want.

Then staff realized they already knew what residents wanted.

“We realized we had done that with the strategic plan,” he said. “We had a clear idea of what residents wanted from us.”

The strategic plan was created from resident surveys and meetings shortly after the city was formed to determine how the city should present itself and what residents expect from their new city.

Mock-ups were designed and passed around city hall between employees and elected officials before one was settled upon.

The new logo will eventually replace the old one, Wright said, however this will be done slowly. City stationary and business cards will not be thrown out, instead being allowed to run out and include the new logo as they get replaced.